He's Growing Up
by SkyGem
Summary: If Reiko hadn't passed away so young. If his mother had survived giving birth to him. If his father hadn't died in that accident. If he had a family, just what would Natsume Takashi's life look like? Would he ever meet Nyanko-sensei and all his other friends? One-shot. No pairings.


Summary: If Reiko hadn't passed away so young. If his mother had survived giving birth to him. If his father hadn't died in that accident. If he had a family, just what would Natsume Takashi's life look like? Would he ever meet Nyanko-sensei and all his other friends? One-shot. No pairings.

SkyGem: Hey minna-san! I hope you enjoy this one-shot, ne? And no, I'm not going to turn it into a multi-chap, no matter how much you ask. Maybe sometime in the future, I'll write something else for this one-shot, but not right now.

Disclaimer: I don't own Natsume Yuujinchou.

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"Ah, got you. Got you…got you, _Reiko_. At last! Give it back. Give it back!"

'_R-Reiko? How does it know my grandmother's name?'_

"Wait up. First, let's pull out her tongue so that she can't say our names."

'_Th-their names? Geez, baa-sama, you could've __**warned**__ me!'_

And with that thought in mind, one Natsume Takashi gathered all his strength and kicked the face of the youkai that currently had him pinned to a tree.

Letting out a wordless cry of pain, the youkai let go, and the moment his feet touched the ground, Takashi was off like a bullet, running as fast as he could away from the dangerous duo and in the direction the two guys from earlier had said the shrine would be.

Before long, Takashi could feel his legs beginning to burn from the physical exertion, but he just kept putting one foot in front of the other, hoping that he'd be able to find the shrine soon.

So focused was Takashi on not stopping that he didn't even notice that he'd found the object of his search until he tripped over a rope, his face meeting the ground before he'd even realized what had happened.

Letting out a small groan as the air was knocked out of him, Takashi sat up rubbing his head, which he had knocked on the floor when he had fallen.

"Ah," said a deep voice, and Takashi froze, hoping that he hadn't just done what he thought he'd just done. The boy's hopes were dashed, though, when the next second, the same voice as before said in a gleeful tone, "The barrier's been broken."

Getting suddenly panicky, Takashi sat up, thinking, _'Shit, that barrier was probably sealing in something bad!'_

"Well done kid," said the voice from before, "I can finally come out!"

Takashi felt his muscles immediately tense as he got ready to jump out of the way of whatever was about to be released.

When the doors to the shrine opened, though, the teen was stunned to see that all that was in there was a maneki neko, and he couldn't help but let out a small laugh.

The next second, the wind was whipping around him, and the maneki neko had jumped out of its place, eyeing him interestedly.

"My…a human sees a spirit and isn't afraid. How brave."

Takashi stared for a moment longer before remembering his manners and shaking himself out of it, saying, "I'm used to it…so…you're a spirit too?"

"Yes. Though I'd prefer it if you didn't group me with those two out there," said the cat contemptuously, looking almost offended, as if the very thought of being compared to those two were disgusting to him. Then, the cat stopped after a second, taking a closer look at Takashi before saying, "You…look like Natsume Reiko…"

Takashi, used to random spirits knowing his grandmother's name by now, nodded nonchalantly, saying, "She's my grandmother."

And suddenly, the cat's eyes had bulged out, and his voice rose quite a few octaves as he exclaimed, "Y-your grandmother!?"

Takashi nodded at this, and suddenly, the cat's expression became thoughtful.

"So, she's old enough to be a grandmother now, is she? I wonder if she's ready to part with the Book of Friends yet."

Takashi's eyes widened at the mention of the Book of Friends, and he reached out to the youkai, saying, "Hey don't-!"

Before he could finish, though, the cat had jumped past him and disappeared into the forest.

Groaning, Takashi got to his feet and began heading in what he assumed was the direction of his home, forgetting about the two youkai who had been chasing him and who had, thankfully, disappeared by now.

As he walked towards the house that he, his parents, and his grandmother had moved into recently, Takashi's mind fell to brooding about what had been at the forefront of his mind for the past week, and he felt a pang of homesickness, wondering why the hell they had had to move to this place in the first place, and why they couldn't have stayed in Tokyo, where all his friends were, and where he knew the few youkai that lived there and who wouldn't ever even dream of attacking him.

Before he even knew it, Takashi had arrived at his new home, and was stepping inside, calling, "Tadaima!"

When Takashi heard his grandmother's familiar voice call, "Okaeri!" from the living room, he followed it, and found her sitting on the sofa, watching television.

"Baa-sama!" called Takashi, approaching her, and the surprisingly young-looking sixty-four-year-old looked up at him.

Upon seeing him, Reiko let out a long peal of laughter, saying in an amused voice, "You look like you've been having fun!"

"Baa-sama!" exclaimed Takashi, a little irritated now. "This isn't funny! Two youkai mistook me for you again and attacked me, asking for their names back!"

"Hey, it's not my fault," replied the woman, the amused grin still on her face. "You're the one doesn't want to fight them, even though I'm sure you have more than enough strength to defeat them!"

"I'm not like you, baa-sama!" retorted Takashi, crossing his arms with a frown (which really looked more like a pout) on his face. "_I_ don't challenge youkai for fun! There's a reason I've spent the past year returning the names in the Book of Friends, you know!"

And now it was Reiko's turn to pout as she murmured, "Ungrateful grandson of mine. Out of all the people in this world, why does _my_ grandson have to be one of the few who _doesn't_ like having servants at his ever y beck and call? I spent a lot of time collecting those names, you know? And the moment I pass the book to you, you start undoing all my hard work!"

"Because it's dangerous having a weapon like that in existence!" lectured Takashi, poking her in the forehead. "Do you have any idea what would happen if this fell into the wrong youkai's hands? Or worse, if it fell into the wrong _exorcist's_ hands? Namely one by the name of Matoba?"

At the mention of this certain exorcist, Reiko began grinding her teeth together, a fire lighting in her eyes. For as long as Takashi could remember, his grandmother had had a strong grudge against the Matoba Clan. Takashi, who hadn't had any contact with exorcists at all in his short life, couldn't fathom why, but he wasn't above using the grudge to his advantage.

The teen opened his mouth, as if to say something else, when the house suddenly began shaking, and Reiko's face lit up into a gleeful smile.

"There's a youkai trying to get past my barriers!" said the woman, and Takashi thought vaguely that it was probably the maneki neko youkai from before.

"Don't look so happy at that!" exclaimed Takashi. "Now hurry and go stop it! You know that shitty barrier isn't going to hold it back for long, and kaa-san's going to be really upset if the house gets damaged again!"

"Oi!" exclaimed Reiko, smacking her grandson on the head on her way out the door and saying, "Don't call my barriers shitty! They're better than yours at any rate!"

"I can't _make_ barriers because _someone_ never deigned to teach me!" retorted Takashi, following after her, only to be ignored.

The moment the two stepped outside, Takashi's jaw dropped open, and he looked up at the gigantic youkai that was currently sitting outside their house, blocking the sun's rays. The majestic beast had long, silky why fur and strange red markings on its face.

Taking one look at the great big youkai, a lazy smile spread across Reiko's beautiful face, and she greeted the youkai, saying, "What brings you to my humble abode, Madara?"

The beast bared its teeth and lowered its head to look Reiko in the eyes, saying in a voice that Takashi recognized as belonging to the maneki neko from before, "I've come to take the Book of Friends."

Reiko didn't flinch, even at the sight of the mouth of sharp teeth just inches from her face. The woman just smiled lazily, patted the youkai identified as Madara on his muzzle, then said, "The Book of Friends belongs to my grandson now. Talk it out with him."

And with that, Reiko turned to walk back into the house, winking conspiratorially towards her dumbfounded grandson and whispering, "He's harmless, I swear."

And with that, she was gone, leaving Takashi alone in the presence of the gigantic Madara to fend for himself.

A nasty grin growing on his face, Madara pinned Takashi to the ground, bringing his face close to the teens, so close that Takashi could feel the heat of his breath on his skin.

"You will give the Book of Friends to me," rumbled Madara's low voice, and Takashi glared up at him.

"Never!" he retorted, and let out a little gasp as Madara slightly increased the pressure on the paw that had Takashi pinned to the ground.

"You will give it to me," repeated Madara, but Takashi just kept on glaring at him.

"The Book of Friends was entrusted to me by my baa-sama. There's no way I'm going to give it to the likes of you."

"And just _what_ do you plan to do with it? It is not something that a human like you can control," said Madara with a sneer.

"Baa-sama was a human," replied Takashi cheekily, and Madara snorted.

"_Reiko_ proved that she could handle it by defeating all the youkai whose names are in it. _You_, on the other hand, can't even hold your own against two low-level weaklings. Not to mention that you haven't even seen the faces of the ones in there. It's not like you could summon any of them if you needed to, anyways. So hand it over, human child."

"I'm not going to give it to you," replied Takashi. "I'm going to return the names of all the youkai in the book so that no one can use it to take advantage of them."

"Return them?" asked Madara with a sneer. "And what are you going to do when one comes along that's too strong for you to handle?"

Smirking, Takashi replied, "You will protect me."

"And just _why_ would I do that?" asked Madara, narrowing his eyes.

"Because, if you be my bodyguard, you can have the Book of Friends when I die," said Takashi, making this all up as he went along.

Madara's eyes lit up in interest, and in a silky voice, he asked, "And what if there's nothing left of it by the time you die?"

Takashi smirked.

"The moment I give back the last name, you're free to eat me…if you still want to, that is."

Madara seemed to think it over for a second before stepping back and letting Takashi get to his feet.

"I look forward to making a meal out of you," said the youkai, and Takashi grinned mischievously back at him as he got to his feet.

"Glad to see that you have so much faith in me," said the teen.

Madara rolled his eyes at this one before disappearing in a puff of smoke and re-emerging in his maneki neko form before proceeding to banter back and forth with Takashi.

And back in the Natsume residence, Reiko stepped away from the window with a proud smile on her face.

"That boy's growing up so fast."

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SkyGem: So, what did y'all think? Like it? Please do leave a review and let me know what you thought of this one-shot! Ciao!

P.S. I can totally see Reiko insisting that Natsume add the honorific -sama at the end of her name, 'cause that's just the kinda person she is XD.


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